The teams from the CCCP were down right amazing. The skills they possessed were leagues over any other team. I once saw them practice in Finland, it was mind blowing...the speed, the crisp passing, the goalie. Wow!
Once the USSR collapsed, Russians were free to leave the country and join the NHL.
They single handedly turned the Red Wing franchise around. In 1996 the Russian 5 gave the Wings their first stanley cup in decades.
Federov, Fetisov, Konstantinov, Kozlov and Larionov........simply awesome players.....Of course having a couple of other guys like Yzerman and Lindstrom and Holmstrom certainly helped too........